What Happened On Easter Morning

What exactly happened on the first Easter morning will probably never be known. The canonical gospels give us a series of life-changing episodes for various disciples – Mary in the garden, Thomas in the room, Peter out fishing... It is clear that these episodes are not consistent with each other and weren’t meant to be. It is clear that the Jesus they met on those occasions was not in a body like any other – it could pass through walls, or be initially unrecognisable. It is clear that Jesus was not resuscitated nor continued to live to a ripe old age. It is likely that these episodes did not all take place within a 40-day period but were spread out over many years and shaped by Early Church understandings. Was the resurrection phenomena experienced therefore a series of post-traumatic dreams, or imaginative theology consistent with the authors’ worldview, or a ‘real’ death-defying event?

There are a number of Christian responses to this question. The ‘how’ of the resurrection experiences do not overly concern me. While I remain sceptical of answers that defy the normal laws of nature and physics, I also recognize that human knowledge is still in its infancy. There are many things we do not know. I remain, in the best sense of these words, humbly agnostic.

We need to prize the virtue of humility in the encounter with the mystery and magnificence of God. Without switching off our brains we need to acknowledge that the paranormal is not necessarily explainable. We need to remain open to the unknown and unexpected, and being willing to suspend belief and disbelief. It is an attitude of engaging with a story, whether it really happened or not, in order to meet with the truth within it.

I do however believe in the resurrection if one means the spirit of radical love, writ large in Jesus, being discovered by his disciples to have escaped the tomb. I think that slowly and tentatively the disciples came to believe in themselves again and in doing so discovered that the spirit of Jesus was still with them. The feelings they had felt in his presence and the power of his radical love lived on. Indeed as they lived that Love called God they began to impact upon their world in way in which Jesus had only dreamed. I believe too that the resurrection of Jesus continues today as that spirit of Love called God transforms us and transforms our world, bringing forth justice, reconciliation, and hope.